As any true Christopher Nolan worshiper, I have the compulsion to reply to this article with my own.

First of all, the article starts by stating a quote by Oscar Wilde – “Every effect that one produces gives one an enemy. To be popular, one must be a mediocrity” and then goes on to compare Christopher Nolan to leaders like Stanley Kubrick and Spielberg. Does this mean they also attained popularity by mediocrity? I’m starting to sense hypocrisy already.

The author Supriyo Mukherjee argues that Chris’s brother Jonathan Nolan is the real genius behind Christopher’s masterpieces. While I will agree completely that Jonathan is a genius of his own accord which is evident with (as Supriyo points out) Person of Interest and WestWorld, I will also leave the following data here (if anyone cares):

[SKIP TABLES]

Meanwhile, Christopher Nolan’s filmography [Wiki]

You can see how that some of the most iconic movies of all time by legendary filmmakers Kubrick, Spielberg and Hitchcock are actually not written solely by themselves. Same goes for Chris although the only difference can be that most of Nolan’s films are written by Jonathan. So he has a good brother, what’s your problem with that?

Claiming that Christopher Nolan’s films are not emotionally built on can be answered easily:

>Memento happens because Leo’s wife was murdered. He strives for vengeance.

>Insomnia shows Dormer’s remorse and subsequent loss of sleep after an accidental homicide.

> The Prestige shows the dedication of Borden that makes him such a great magician.

> The Dark Knight trilogy is a story of loss and finding one’s self again.

> Inception shows a Cob willing to do anything to reunite with his children.

> Interstellar… Well that’s very obvious if you’ve seen the movie.

Chris’s movies refuses to have emotion that is dramatic and overplayed. Instead, it is subtle and embedded with the plot itself. It doesn’t put him OVER the other directors we’ve mentioned – in fact there is no contest. It only proves that these points cannot undermine Christopher Nolan’s fame as overrated publicity.

The only other criticism that Nolan can have is that he is commercially successful and he probably has more commercial audience than most other leading filmmakers. Christopher Nolan is unique in a way that he appeals to both the intellectual and the general audience alike. His films have subtleties that aren’t easily noticeable and are only visible the second or third time around.

Why do people still argue that Christopher Nolan is overrated?

It’s because people are always prone to complain about what they have now against what they used to have. The only difference is now that millennials are not ready to accept anything at face value – in fact they are ready to reject things faster than accept. We like to challenge authority and superiority. While that is generally a good thing, I do not know if I’ll stand by when someone undermines the superiority of one of the greatest, if not the greatest filmmakers of our time. I’m open to be challenged for this statement too. Comment away!

Featured image borrowed from Indhu Kanth’s Behance!

The post Response: Is Christopher Nolan overrated? appeared first on OutFocus.

This post is dark and full of spoilers, but carry on anyway if you have a strong heart.

1. The movie begins with Mr. Newt Scamander, a Britisher, passing a immigration post as he lands in New York. Later in this movie, we know that Scamander can apparate (or “teleport”) quickly from point A to point B, so I wonder why he can’t just do that with the immigration counter when he has a case full of weird magical creatures. I had an argument with my friend about this and she told me that there are rules for wizards about this. Well, when he’s already on an illegal mission…

2. Also, if every goddamn wizard in New York can apparate that easily, why couldn’t Harry, Hermoine and Ron do it decades later and Dobby the elf had to help them? Isn’t Harry supposedly one of the best wizards and Hermoine easily one of the most knowledgeable? Please don’t tell me one of the coolest things about wizardry was banned from being taught in Hogwarts while it is okay to teach students about Avara Kadavra.

3. Scamander and Jacob Kowalski (is he Polish?) have just met and he already hit Scamander on the face and took off with his creature-suitcase and Scamander chooses him to follow him down the suitcase world. Later he says that was because he liked Jacob Kowalski. Either the guy is lying or the guy is out of his mind. I wouldn’t even trust Jacob Kowalski if it were up to me. No offence, the guy is actually a likeable character halfway into the movie and does indeed make a good pair with Queenie even though he’s not in perfect shape. But sheesh, Scamander just breaks too many wizard laws.

4. Protagonist and side character accidentally swap suitcases cliché. (Hell, the cases don’t even look the same).

5. I know this is magic and all, but where in seven hells did Scamander manage to find that much space inside his suitcase? Is he Dr. Strange? What the hell. Turns out Hogwarts need just be the size of a tent or something and didn’t have to be hidden in some far away place in Scotland.

6. We later understand that Credence becomes an obscurus when he is forced to do things or is pushed around. But he doesn’t turn into an obscurus when his “mother” beats the hell out of him every day. Instead, he rampages the streets of New York for no reason at all!

7. We are told that obscuria are no longer seen in the world and led to believe Credence just an exception. Are we told why they no longer happen? If there are exceptions like Credence and the girl Scamander found in Egypt, then what happens if another exceptional magical child is not trained to deal with it earlier? According to The Sorceror’s Stone, Harry Potter was only contacted by Hogwarts when he was 11. By this age, most obscuria would have killed their hosts (not to mention that they would have rampaged their cities like Credence did).

8. Dear fantastic beasts, you cannot just choose to escape some times and not escape some times when the case is opened. How is it that niffler is always trying to escape but doesn’t do so when Scamander himself opens the case?

9. The makers of Fantastic Beasts took a page from Men in Black to obliviate members of the public (Muggles or NoMajs).

10. I can deal with making the public forget the recent events, but how do you deal with the time gap between what they were doing and the moment they get reset? Jacob Kowalski must’ve lost like two days at least. When an entire city loses several hours, it would have been noticed as a phenomenon. Someone would realize that they’ve been standing in a huge group for several hours but remember nothing. Or do you magically reconstruct everyone’s memory? Even in a magical world, I think that would require a whole lot of power.

11. How does Jacob Kowalski still remember stuff after being obliviated? Does this mean there could be other New Yorkers who remember other stuff?

12. Someone supposedly in a high authority is not what he seems to be. Sound familiar? Only every Harry Potter movie ever.

13. Wait, who is this girl on the left? I don’t recognize her from the movie. Even Queenie (right) is more memorable.

What was that? I should read the book before sinning the movie? Why the hell do you bother making a movie if your argument is to ask me to read the books anyway? Is the movie a glorified super-long trailer with a LOT of spoilers to the book Fantastic beasts and where to find them?

Yes, I realize I would be great at Cinema Sins.

Disclaimer: Any views expressed in this article are solely my own view as author and does not reflect OutFocus or its team’s view.

The post Fantastic beasts and where to find them – a sinful review appeared first on OutFocus.

The film – Shiva. The filmmaker – Ram Gopal Varma.

It did help that RGV’s father, Penmatsa Krishnamraju was a sound recordist at Annapurna Studios (founded by Akkineni Nageswara Rao, father of Nagarjuna Akkineni who plays the lead of Shiva). From running a video rental shop to later being dissatisfied that there is no solid learning being a fourth assistant director, the gutsy RGV decided to jump into direction directly. Interestingly, beyond RGV’s passion and intensity, what clinched the deal for RGV with Nagarjuna was their mutual love for astronomy. It was a breakthrough film in Nagarjuna ‘s career and he would also later go on to marry the female lead Amala. Technically, Shiva set the path for Nagarjuna Akkineni’s career and life.

Shiva is often credited for introducing the steadicam (which RGV was fascinated by after reading in the magazine American Cinematographer) and hitherto unknown sound recording techniques. The sound design, lighting and shots of Shiva were trend setting and still serve as inspiration to many film students. In spite of the cinematographer’s apprehension, RGV was keen on using the steadicam after learning that it was available in Madras for four years and was already obsolete. This decision later paved the way for realistically filmed chases with POV sequences. After the film’s release, ten more steadicams were imported into India. Such was the influence.

The infamous cycle-chain fight sequence that made J.D. Chakravarthy famous (who later went on to play the lead of RGV’s cult gangster film Satya) has interesting origins. RGV, unsure about the feasibility of such a stunt had really tried to yank a cycle chain and failed to do so. Against his apprehension, he retained the sequence assuming nobody would have tried it in real life. Later when the shot became viral and many fans succeeded in replicating the stunt in real life, RGV was amused that this is how imagination can help overcome the limitations of reality. Like how we keep souvenirs of our past that played a pivotal role in our life, J.D. still proudly possesses the original cycle-chain used in the film.

When initial test screenings failed to interest distributors attributing to excessive violence and the raw presentation, the post-production atmosphere became more and more tense.  It was due to the absence of background score and sound design, reasoned RGV but in vain. It was Nagarjuna alone who stood by him like a rock during that period, states RGV. Later when Ilaiyaraaja was composing the score for a fight sequence happening in a college, RGV was surprised at the use of strings and questioned the same. Raja answered that they are students who came there to study but instead are fighting which made him sad.

The film’s main antagonist Raghuvaran, who was asked to underplay his performance, reportedly studied the Mumbai underworld criminals for twenty days. Unlike popular perception that RGV’s expertise in bringing to life the world of gangsters must be from his underworld contacts (which still can’t be ruled out completely) , his real learning as he says was more from his own life. RGV’s fascination with anti-socialism started early in his life when he admired the school bullies and how they controlled the people and the environment.  Many still argue that the brush between students, gangsters and politics has never been better portrayed than in Shiva. The ingenuity of RGV lies in his understanding of human nature, says Brahmaji who played a henchman in the film. This best sums up the filmmaker that is Ram Gopal Varma.

Written by Nirmal Henry.

The post Guns and Frames: the rise of a revolutionary filmmaker appeared first on OutFocus.

And then this happened:

<style=”margin=0″>

[Video from a student of SMVEC]

Gowtham Vasudhev Menon at the college day at SMVEC, Pondichery, yesterday (8th February 2016) teased that he has a script in which Karthick (Simbu) and Jessie (Trisha) meet 7 years after Vinnai Thaandi Varuvaaya. He mentioned that Simbu is one of four heroes in this upcoming flick which he will be directing from December this year. Given the notorious tendency of GVM and Simbu to delay, drop and/or move on from projects, we do sincerely hope this is a go. He did seem a lot convincing, but December is still a long way to go. Until then, join us and sit tight.

Also it is expected that the reboot will be only in Tamil as the Ye Maaya Chesave had a conclusion.

What do you expect from this movie?

Will it be a VTV 2? Comments below!

Read more movie updates on our sister site StudioFlicks.com

The post VTV 2 is on the cards! Gowtham Menon confirms. appeared first on OutFocus.

Bollywood Actress Deepika recently flew down to Toronto to begin the shoot for her first Hollywood film XXX The Return of Xander Cage.

The original xXx starred Diesel as Xander Cage, an extreme sports athlete who gets enlisted by the government to work as a spy. Due to other projects, Diesel did not star in the 2005 sequel xXx: State of the Union. The sequel failed to shine at the box-office and the third film was put on hold. Nearly after a decade, Vin Diesel announced the third film and said that the film will follow Xander as he returns to the National Security Agency after an eight-year absence and undertakes another mission

Here is the first look of Deepika Padukone in xXx : The Return of Xander Cage

Pics from : https://www.instagram.com/p/BBYbSmLGPuy/

Director DJ Caruso also shared a picture on Twitter and  wrote, “#academyaward winner #Russellcarpenter sets his 1st shot with @deepikapadukone. #xandercagereturns #xxx3  stunning.”

Deepika has been working out really hard for the film. She trained under celebrity trainer Yasmi Karachiwala. From a lot of weight training to a heavy protein diet, she is all set to pull off all stunt sequences in the action flick. In an earlier interview, Deepika had said, “I just happened to have four interactions with Vin Diesel. He is a warm person and very generous like the other co-stars I have worked with. I am hoping that it will be a fun experience. It’s important to enjoy the experience and everything else will follow”.

Her “Bajirao Mastani” co-star Ranveer Singh and Irrfan Khan, who worked with Deepika in “Piku”, wished the actress luck for her Hollywood film. “We are really proud of you. Since you are leaving tonight to shoot your big Hollywood blockbuster, we wish you all the best. May you conquer the new venture and make us proud like the way you always have,” Ranveer said.

The upcoming action flick has an star cast of Samuel L. Jackson, The Vampire Diaries’ Nina Dobrev, Orange is the New Black’s Ruby Rose, Tony Jaa and Jet Li. It is expected to be released in 2017.

The post Deepika Padukone in xXx | First look appeared first on OutFocus.

Towards the close of 2015, a trailer from STR’s upcoming movie, Achcham Yenbadhu Madamayada (to fear is foolish) was released. The trailer featured a 1:15 minute preview from the song “Thalli pogadhey”. While the trailer has taken youth by storm, it has created a expectation for the movie which is expected to release this Summer. Directed by Gautham Vasudev Menon, the movie stars Silambarasan and Manjima Mohan in lead roles as Dan Macarthur, an Australian filmmaker and director of photography, shoots the scenes. The movie is edited by Anthony and produced by Photon Kathaas and Ondraga Entertainment.

The full single song of Thalli Pogadhey was expected to be released on 14th January, but was delayed. It has come to our knowledge that the single will officially release today (16th January 2016) at 7 P.M on YouTube and subsequently be available on iTunes.

The full album is expected to release later this month.

Update: The full song is now available on YouTube (below) and on iTunes here!

Read more media news and entertainment on our sister site StudioFlicks!

The post “Thalli Pogadhey” – the wait is over! appeared first on OutFocus.